


An Invitation to the Judgment Mirror

by ETNMystic



Category: Escape the Night (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, au in which everyone was mean to andrea russett, based on a film project we did for class, but also mixes with the ETN lore, but who they are is gonna be a surprise, except for like two people, i couldn't think of anyone else who andrea russett wronged aside from tana and she's an earthling so
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:47:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23931805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ETNMystic/pseuds/ETNMystic
Summary: A few groups of YouTubers decide to go to an abandoned theatre for an AR Gaming Contest, and to get that good content, but they may find more than what they'd come for.
Comments: 15
Kudos: 17





	1. The Return of the Rose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The YouTubers try to get that good content, but run across more than they bargained for.

"Girl, this is gonna get hella views!" Bretman exclaimed as he and Nikita headed into the abandoned theatre studio.

"Turn the fucking camera on!" she whispered. 

The red light flashed.

"Hey draguns, it's Nikita!" she greeted enthusiastically.  
"So I know this isn't really like what I normally do, but I thought I'd decide to give something new a try. Anyway, we're in this theatre dance room thing that's supposedly haunted--"

"Hello, internet! Welcome to Game Theory!" Matpat entered the room with Alex.  
"So I decided to explore--Alex, can you get the lights please?"

Nikita and Bretman were confused as Alex flipped on a dim light. That was when the gurus were spotted.

"Oh, hey," Matpat said awkwardly.  
"Are you guys here for the--?"

They nodded.

"You got one too?" Nikita asked.

"So did Alex."

The door opened again.

"Guys, I promise you, this is totally safe!" Joey said eagerly as he, Oli, and Eva entered the room. 

"But the article said---" Oli began when he noticed the others.  
"Oh. You guys got an invitation too?"

Everyone nodded.

"I think we all did," Eva said.  
"But there's something that I noticed about---"

"This is gonna be great content, I swear--" 

The door opened as Tana's voice wandered in along with Justine, Colleen, and Lele.

"Seriously?" Lele sighed.  
"We _all_ got one?"

"You're talking about the invitations?" Bretman asked.

Lele nodded.

"I got one too, and so did Tana and Colleen, but---"

"Welcome back!" Gabbie's voice called as she entered with Tyler holding the camera.  
"So I think this is the perfect time to prove that I'm _legit_ a psychic--aw fuck! People!"

"Oop!" Tyler exclaimed.

"Okay, something's up," Colleen shivered.

"That much is obvious," Nikita scoffed.

"Okay, but guys," Eva exclaimed.  
"Oli, Joey, and I got invitations on our phones, and they all look the same, except there's, like, a different letter in the top corner."

"You think this is part of the game?" Lele wondered.

"It sure sounds like it. Did everyone else have something similar?"

Ripples of agreement.

"Okay, I think we need to put these together," Justine said.  
"Because the sooner we can figure this out, the sooner I can get out cause this place is giving me the creeps."

"Same here," Tyler agreed.

They all put their phones on the ground and, pulling out a notebook and pen, Eva wrote the letters down. As the rest of them chatted, she tried to decode the message with some help. Finally she came to a conclusion.

"You think this is it?" Oli asked.

Eva nodded.

"I can't really think of anything else these could spell out."

Oli turned towards the others.

"Hey, guys! I think we figured it out," he called.

The two walked over to the group.

"Okay, so what we came up with is a name: Andrea Rose. Could be Rose Andrea, but Andrea Rose kinda rolls off the tongue much more easily. Does...does that name ring a bell to anyone?"

The group looked at one another, confused as hell, for a good minute.

"Wait!" Tyler gasped.  
"Andrea Rose? Wasn't she that chick that had that, like, dog profile pic?"

"Oh my God! I remember her!" Lele exclaimed.  
"She was so annoying."

"Yeah, weren't we all like kinda bullying her a bit?" Gabbie gulped.

"Well, she was a clingy bitch," Bretman sighed.

"She wasn't that bad," Matpat shrugged.

"I think it was......you who wrote that song about her?" Nikita pointed at Colleen.

"I had a little help, I think," Colleen sounded uncertain. 

"Wait, didn't she pass away like a year ago?" Justine wondered.

"Yeah," Eva nodded.  
"She was in some....abandoned warehouse or something. She was, like, trying to do these stunts to impress us, but I think she got....I dunno sucked into a mirror or something."

That's when Justine had a realization.

"Guys," she gasped.  
"That article! It said she died in this theatre."

"Okay, I'm out of here," Oli gasped.

"Don't leave me behind!" Joey called. 

Oli grappled at the doorknob and turned it, but instead of the door swinging open....

"Guys?" he panicked.  
"It's locked."

"Locked?" Gabbie blinked.  
"No, there's _no way_ it's locked."

"Who was the last one inside?" Eva asked.

"It was Gabbie and Tyler," Nikita said.  
"And T-Boy was filming."

"Maybe you like....bumped against it or something?" Lele suggested.

"I _know_ I didn't!" Tyler exclaimed.

"Okay," Matpat sighed.  
"Everyone stay calm. Let's see if we can find another way out."

"Good idea," Tana nodded. 

Everyone split amongst the room, trying to find a door, a window, a trapdoor, something, anything!, that could get them out. It wasn't until about five minutes later that Tana and Matpat pulled back the curtain.

"Holy shit!" Tana gasped.

"What?" Gabbie exclaimed.

"Guys, there's like a crack in the mirror. And blood."

Everyone gathered around.

"Holy fuck!" Gabbie whispered.  
"That can't be real."

"No, that's real," Eva whimpered.

Colleen had to divert her attention away, but that was her biggest mistake.

"Oh my God!" she quivered.  
"Look! In the mirror!"

Everyone's attention directed themselves there to find a bunch of other people dressed in black showing up in the mirror. Justine was the first to check and she did a double take.

"They're only in the mirror," she squeaked.

"No, this isn't real," Nikita said as calmly as she could, even though she was beginning to freak out.  
"This is just some....mirror trick bullshit."

The figures started pointing to the right and chanting something. It was quiet at first, but soon the YouTubers could make it out.

" _Andrea Rose, Andrea Rose, Andrea Rose._ "

"Oh fuck! Oh fuck! Oh God!" Gabbie hyperventilated.

It got louder.

" _Andrea Rose, Andrea Rose, Andrea Rose!_ "

"This has to be a joke!" Tana cried out.

" _ANDREA ROSE, ANDREA ROSE, ANDREA ROSE!"_

All of a sudden, they heard an echoey, but familiar, laugh. It was coming from the direction the mirrorlings were pointing in. Every turned. There she was, wearing the same outfit the night she died, a beanie on her head, and holding a stuffed dog. She could only be seen in the mirror, people did double takes to make sure. They didn't want to believe it, but it was her.

Andrea Rose Russett.

"What the fuck is up?" she smirked.

Gabbie shook her head.

"No....no, it can't be you.....you're.....you're dead."

The ghost in the mirror gave but a small nod.

"Dead? Yes. Gone? No."

There wasn't so much as a pin drop as she continued.

"Tell me, do you _all_.....remember me? Because I remember all of you. Each and every single one of you. After all, you're all the reason I'm dead. The reason I'm stuck inside this fucking mirror....."

The group was frozen in a panic. No one could speak or even so much as whimper. But finally Justine broke the silence.

"Okay, I'm gone!"

"Don't leave me behind!" Tyler panicked.

"I'm coming too!" Lele gasped.

They clamored for the door, but Andrea Rose just laughed. They all turned to her, their cries trailing off as she shook her head in amusement.

"Why are you running? Why _are_ you running? You all know you can't run from your past. It always comes back to bite you in the ass. Just like right now."

Justine tried the doorknob once more, but a frosty streak ran down her blood vessels from her neck, and lingered in her shoulder, causing her to tense up and shiver.

"What's the matter, Justine?" Andrea Rose chuckled.  
"Got a case of the cold shoulder? In case I haven't made it painfully fucking obvious to you all, none of you are leaving this place. At least, not right now."

The YouTubers glanced at each other. What the hell did this spirit want? Was she even real? Finally one of them got the courage to speak up.

"What's it gonna take for you to let us out?" Joey asked as his voice quivered.

The smile on the ghost girl flickered only slightly, like a candle in a brief breeze.

"Oh.....nothing much. I just want to play a game. You see, I died trying to impress you all. And now, it's your turn to impress me."

It was as if every heart was stopped dead in its tracks as the ghost grabbed a chair in the mirror.

"Guys, what the hell?" Matpat panicked as he heard the sound of something scuffing against the wood.

The YouTubers all freaked out. The same chair that the ghost was dragging across the mirror was now moving outside the mirror, except there was no one to carry it.

Andrea Rose laughed as she set the chair down and glided back to her spot in the mirror.

"So who will be first in the seat of judgment? I wonder."

She seemed to be thinking, but in reality, she knew the order. But even though it was painfully obvious....

"I think it'll be........"

the first victim was still shocked.

_"..........you......."_


	2. I Love You......

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A certain Troublemaker faces the life she ended.

"Oh my God! Oh my fucking God!"

Nikita jolted as she appeared in the chair, panting. However, that was quickly cut short when she looked up at the mirror. All of the other ghosts were gone. All except Andrea Rose, who was watching in the corner, and a man close to her age, one arm freed from a straitjacket.

"Hey, bitch," the figure said, the familiarity of the voice causing her blood to run cold.  
"You remember me?"

Oh, she did indeed, but she didn't want to. She didn't want to believe that Manny Gutierrez, aka Manny MUA, was right in front of her.

"How...." she asked.  
"No....this can't be real...you're dead....."

"You bet your fab ass I'm dead," Manny said sinisterly.  
"And you know why?"

"No," she denied, trying to maintain her bad bitch persona.

"Bitch," he scoffed.  
"I'm the ghost, and yet _you're_ the one everyone can see right through."

He slowly bent down, getting close to her face.

"I'll spell it out for you: You. Shot. Me. Dead."

It was a fact to Nikita, one that ping-ponged through her head on the daily, but hearing it still made her tense up. However, this time was different because now she was hearing it from _him._ Those words out of his mouth were like bullets from a gun.

"It was either me or you," she stammered, still attempting to keep her cool.  
"And I _had_ to get out. I had _a lot_ to live for."

"And you thought I _didn't?_ " he demanded to know as he slowly paced back and forth behind her.  
"You thought I was just a throw-away? You thought I had nothing to live for?"

"I never said that."

"Just like how you 'never said all of those nasty comments' about Andrea Rose?"

The mere mention of her name made Nikita lose it.

"Who cares about her?!"

She tried to stand up, but Andrea Rose's eyes flashed and Nikita's body was stuck to the chair.

"She's the fucking reason I'm in here to begin with. If she hadn't been so clingy and needy--"

"You mean, if she hadn't been telling you how much she admired you? How much she admired your content? How charismatic you were? How much your videos made her day better? She said all of that and yet, you shot her down, just like you shot me down."

Tears were welling up in Nikita's eyes. Frame-by-frame, the memory replayed in her mind over and over. And over. And over. And over. Until she was broken down.

"Manny...." she whimpered.  
"Please...."

"Tell me, bitch," he rasped.  
"If we went back to that circus tent, would you trade places with me? Would you have shot yourself instead?"

Nikita wanted to say yes to Manny. Oh God. He had no idea how badly she wanted to say "yes, I would go back and shoot myself to save you." He was her best friend, after all. But she couldn't bring herself to lie. Her self-preservation would've taken over. Weakly, she shook her head as tears freely flowed down her face.

"No...." she squeaked.  
"I wouldn't be able to....."

He gave a tiny smirk, as he pulled something out of his pocket.

"Oh, how the baddest of the bitches has fallen. Now.....do you have anything to say to Andrea Rose?"

Nikita looked over in that corner of the mirror where the ghost girl waited expectantly. Her mere presence sent fire through Nikita's veins.

"I hope you burn in Hell," she hissed.

She felt something cold against her skin. Looking down, she saw that Manny had pulled out a gun, not unlike the one she'd used against him, and placed it below her chin against her neck. 

"Nikita, I love you," he said without so much as a smile.

"Nikita, I love you," he said as he cocked the gun.

She stared into his eyes again, begging for mercy, but his were cold and hostile. This was when Nikita knew: she would be the one burning in Hell.

"Nikita, I love you."

And he pulled the trigger.

* * *

**_BANG!_ **

The sound of a gun went off and the others gasped. Nikita herself was no longer in the chair. It was as if she'd vanished into thin air. In the mirror, however, there was a different story. Her corpse, the chair, and the ground was splattered and dripping with blood, and her face was mangled beyond recognition. In the corner, Andrea Rose smirked.

"I see we're starting things off with a bang."

The ghost girl's eyes flashed, and the corpse disappeared along with the mess her reflection's death had made. Feeling satisfied, she looked to the remaining YouTubers.

"Now.....who's second? Um.....eenie-meenie-miney-"

Her eyes landed right onto victim number two.

_"......You."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It kinda follows the ETN death lore, but also doesn't. I also put a few of my own twists on it. See, in the movie we made, the victims just disappear. But I feel like that would get too repetitive, so instead, I'm gonna try to customize the deaths and also stick to what we made, so like what you just saw with Nikita. Her real self just disappeared, but her mirror self was shot in the neck. (for plot purposes, pretend that it went through to the brain)
> 
> Up next we have someone who's convinced that both of them were idiots for the choices they made.


	3. C'mon, You're Almost There!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our Gambler Girl faces our Fixer.

"Oh God! This is--"

Justine was panicking as she appeared in the chair, facing the mirror. She'd just seen someone get shot. Granted the carnage only showed up in the mirror, but that didn't make it any better. Someone had still been shot. And she was sitting right where the murder had taken place.

"Why am I sitting on a chair where someone _just_ died?" she whimpered as she surveyed the floor, seeing if any blood had been left behind.

"I think I can answer that," a voice sighed casually.  
"It's because I've gotta talk to you."

The Gambler looked up and gasped. Andrea Rose had moved to the other side of her, and just a bit closer, but that wasn't what made her panic. No, it was the dark mistress in the mirror that made her panic.

"This can't be real," Justine gulped.  
"This doesn't feel real."

"I mean, it feels pretty real to me," Andrea Brooks shrugged.  
"Just like me choking on gas felt pretty real. Oh wait. That's because it _was_ real. And I think we both know _why_ it was real."

Justine blinked. Why this? Why now? It wasn't _her_ fault that she was a complete idiot. _Andrea_ had picked _her_ as her partner after all. 

"I gave you a fair warning," she defended.  
"I didn't want you to die, that was why I was begging for you to pick someone else!"

"And yet, you didn't try to save me."

"I _did_! That's the thing! Everything was just.....it was so difficult! It was like reading an entirely different language. And I was so close to finishing!"

"Why didn't you take off your glove to get the bolt?" Andrea B wondered.  
"It would've saved you a lot of time, you know."

"Girl, do you _know_ how cold that water was? I was trying to save myself from frostbite."

"Okay, so....you care more about not getting a bit of frostbite than about my life? Great. Thanks. Good to know."

"That's not what I meant--"

"Didn't you also vote for me?"

_Don't remind me!_

Justine shuddered at the mere memory, the one she'd tried to store in her subconscious for so long, but Andrea Brooks was now bringing it back out. She had to think of something to change the topic, but not something too far off.

"To be fair, girl, we're both kinda idiots. I mean, you picked me to be your challenge partner--"

"Just like you picked Andrea Rose to be your target for bullying?"

This sent Justine into a confusion. As far as she knew, she hadn't done any of the bullying to Andrea Rose. Sure, maybe she'd laughed along with them and made a few quips of her own, but it wasn't like she meant it or anything. Everyone made a few pokes at each other on the internet, and it was all merely in good fun. Andrea Rose, as far as Justine was concerned, just didn't have a thick enough skin for it.

"I never bullied her."

"So laughing at the other comments made about her, and calling her 'an annoying fangirl' and 'hell on earth' _isn't_ bullying in your mind?"

Justine was beginning to sweat. 

"It wasn't that big of a deal. They were just jokes. I don't know why she wasn't getting that they were. I wish she had."

"So that you could continue doing it without remorse?"

"She needed to laugh at herself. We all need to laugh at ourselves once in a while."

Andrea B shrugged.

"Okay, so then here's something I hope you thought about at least once in a while: do you feel guilty about all of this?"

Justine knew that she should say yes, but she'd be lying if she said she agreed that this was her fault. In her mind, Andrea Brooks had been given a fair warning, and Andrea Rose really should've just sucked it up and laughed along with them. She shook her head.

"No," she replied.  
"I honestly think I gave you a fair warning. I told you not to pick me because I'm stupid, and yet you picked me, which makes you stupid like me. So technically, we're even."

The dark mistress rolled her eyes.

"Okay, sure. But what about Andrea Rose? Do you feel guilty about the stuff you said about her? About laughing along with the others?"

"I keep telling you: they were just jokes. Besides everyone else was doing it--"

"And if everyone else was suddenly dropping dead," Andrea B interrupted as she rolled in a tank and mask, her voice becoming much darker and more somber.  
"Would you do it too? Would you drop dead along with them?"

Justine began to panic as Andrea slipped the mask over her mouth.

"Let's be honest, you probably would. I mean, c'mon," she chuckled as she went over and turned the nozzle on the gas tank.  
 _"You're almost there....."_

* * *

Justine faded into oblivion as her reflection struggled to breathe, the gas hissing like an angry snake. Her face began to turn a dark shade of blue, then purple, as she struggled for air. Before the others knew it, she'd dropped to the ground, her body blue and lifeless. Andrea Rose just chuckled.

"Okay, now that we've let out a bit of hot air......"

A flash of her eyes and the corpse faded along with the gas tank and mask. 

"Time for number three."

She didn't even hesitate this time....

"Yours is gonna be pretty fucking interesting.....

her hand gracefully indicated to her next victim, as they disappeared and reappeared in the chair.

_".....I've made certain of that......"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 down and 11 to go.
> 
> Up next: An old rivalry is revitalized. But who will win out?


	4. Love, Hate, Eliminate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hustler faces her old foe.

"¡Ay, Dios Mio! ¡¿Qué diablos está pasando?!"

Lele wasted no time cursing out the situation she found herself in as she appeared in the chair. Two people had been murdered right before her eyes. They all had to watch the carnage. And she was pissed beyond all reason. She was pissed that this ghost girl was trying to take vengeance. She was pissed she'd agreed to be in this game. And she was going to be pissed about something else in a hot second.

Or rather _someone_ else.

"What kind of sick fucking joke is this?" she asked Andrea Rose, who was practically hovering over her head, like Harpae hovering over Goldia. 

"This isn't a joke," a familiar voice scoffed.  
"If it was, you'd be here and I'd be there."

Lele glanced up and huffed, grimacing. Of course _this_ was the demon Andrea Rose had sent to bite her in the ass. Not a real demon with horns and pitchforks and the pointy tail. Though for all intents and purpose, it _was_ a demon to her. A very real one. Dead, but real. And also annoying as fuck.

"Lele Pons," Matt Haag chuckled bitterly.  
"I never thought I'd have to see you again."

She groaned.

"Great. Not only do I have to deal with annoying ghost flower girl, but with you _too_?"

"You _know_ why you have to deal with me," he said.  
"I wouldn't be dead if it weren't for you."

"Okay, listen here, you fucker," she spat.  
"I didn't even kill you. You brought your death upon your dumbass self."

"That exorcism changed me."

"Yeah, it changed you into a dead weight."

" _You_ try performing an exorcism under such heavy pressure."

"At least I would've _read_ the full note before making any stupid fucking moves."

"Would you _really_ have? Can you _prove_ that you would have?"

"What are you gonna do?" Lele scoffed as she folded her arms and crossed one leg over the other.   
"Take me back to that house of the devil, and make _me_ perform the exorcism? Because I'm pretty sure we're _both_ stuck in this room, jackass."

Matt Haag groaned.

"Do you _seriously_ feel nothing about this? I've been bringing up all of this trauma and guilt. You're supposed to be feeling guilty."

"You're not doing a good job at _making_ me feel guilty. If anyone should be feeling guilty, it's you. You completely gave up on the group after the exorcism, did nothing to help, and _that's_ what got you killed. Not me. Not Sierra. Not even Joey. It was your dumbass moves that got you killed."

Lele turned away and rolled her eyes.

"So you _really_ don't feel guilty about what you did to me? What about what you did to Andrea Rose?"

She muttered some Spanish profanities under her breath.

"That bitch is the reason I'm here to begin with. Why should I feel guilty?"

"The stuff you said lead to her getting killed!"

"It's not like we were _trying_ to get her killed, at least I wasn't. I was just trying to get her off my back."

"By calling her 'an attention whore'? By saying that she's 'like an annoying mosquito bite that just never seems to go away'?"

"You try being in my shoes, I get stressed making videos, okay? And to have someone like her sending me messages--"

"Messages about how amazing your content is, about how outgoing you are, about how bold and unafraid you are? You should've been grateful to have someone love your videos as much as she did."

"---If you don't shut up, I'm gonna slap those ghost lips off your face, jerkass."

"Oh my God! Just fucking die already," Andrea Rose groaned.

This left everyone silent for a few moments before the current ghost and earthling duo spoke up.

"Excuse me?" both gasped.

"Sorry, not to be rude," Andrea Rose sighed.  
"But I'm kinda on a schedule here. Y'all each only get so much time in the seat before we gotta move the fuck on, so if you could just kill her already, that'd be fan-fucking-tastic."

Matt H groaned. 

"Okay, fine."

He pulled out a taser, and got down next to Lele, pinning the taser to her head. He cranked it up high.

"Say goodbye, Leelee," he smirked.

Rolling her eyes, Lele tried to remain calm, but inside she knew she was next to die. She began to pray.

_Dios, Santa María, Cristo, sé que he hecho muchas cosas malas, pero por favor perdóname. Lo siento por casi todo y por favor trae mi alma al Paraíso ---!_

**_ZAP!_ **

* * *

Lele disappeared from the chair, but her reflection convulsed and smoked before dropping to the floor. Gabbie swore she felt her heart stop for a hot second. Andrea Rose smirked.

"Shocking, isn't it?"

A simple flash of the eyes, and the reflection of her corpse was gone.

"Three down, who-knows-how-many to go."

She looked around for victim number 4.

"This one should be intriguing......"

The victim disappeared, before reappearing in the chair.

_"....I guarantee it."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to make it longer, and maybe I will.
> 
> Up next: He in trouble, she cute, will she spare him the torment?


	5. It's Gonna Be Okay.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Playboy and a Cinnamon Roll have a bittersweet talk.

"Oh bitch," Bretman gasped as he appeared in the chair while Andrea Rose stared from the left.

He tried to mentally go through the list of people he had wronged, whether it be by accident or intentionally. Who had this crazy ghost-looking ass bitch summoned up for him he had no clue. But he braced himself for a barrage of insults and drama.

"Hi, Bretman."

There was a voice.

It was....unusually kind and gentle. Was it really a kind voice, or just a trap to make him drop his guard, set him up for drama? He looked up into the softest brown eyes he'd ever seen. The ghost was short and petite, dressed in a navy-blue dress with white polka dots.

"Rosanna," he gasped.

She smiled gently back at him and gave a small wave.

"You're the one she chose?"

The ghost shrugged.

"I guess so."

That was when Bretman glanced at his camera. Just before Nikita had appeared in the chair, the other ghosts seemed to disappear. But looking into the camera that was still recording, he saw that they hadn't left.....they'd just made themselves invisible.

"Oh, bitch!" he gasped.  
"I can see them in the camera!

"Wait, what?!" Joey exclaimed.

"Are you serious?" Gabbie asked.

"Legit, bitch," he nodded.

Tyler picked up his camera, which was still recording, and looked around.

"Yup, he's right.....oop!....."

Tyler's face paled.

"What....what is it?" Gabbie asked.

"I think I know which one is mine....."

"Wait, who's the ghost Bretman's facing?" Colleen wondered.

Tyler held up the camera and they looked.

"Ro!" Joey exclaimed.

"Oh my God!" Gabbie stammered.

"Ro?" Colleen gasped.

For a moment, Bretman was caught up in the exclamations of the others

"Bretman," the ghost sighed.

"Ro, I'm sorry," he said quickly.  
"But it was either you or me, and sis, we both looked like snacks, but I did not want to _be_ a snack."

"I didn't either."

"I know, I know. But it's in my nature to want to win. I know you had your fur baby, but I had a niece to get back to."

Hearing this, Ro gave a small, sad smile.

"How....how _is_ Cleo, by the way?"

Bretman nodded.

"She still cute. She's growing up so fast. I can't believe it."

Ro nodded.

"I'm glad to hear it. I'd love to know what she's been up to."

But, from the corner of her eye, she took a glance at Andrea Rose and her heart dropped, as did her smile.

"But....I'm not supposed to keep you here long. I'm....supposed to remind you of the things you did to Andrea Rose."

Tears fell from her eyes. 

"Honey...." he sighed.

"I....I don't wanna do this," she choked.  
"I want to just....leave it in the past. But.....that's up to you."

"What do you mean?"

He could feel his eyes watering a bit, but just like Nikita, he tried to maintain a badass bitch persona, only slightly toned down because this was Ro, one of the kindest people he'd ever met. He couldn't be mean to her, at least not more than he had to to stay composed. 

Ro had no qualms about this persona, nor about showing her emotions to an extent. She could sense that he felt at least a little guilty, at least for what he did to her. She wanted to let him go free more than anything, but that wasn't how it worked. Whether or not he was going to atone and apologize for what he did to Andrea Rose was up to him.

"Do....do you regret what you did to Andrea Rose?"

Bretman huffed.

"That girl? I mean, she cute, but she was clingy and annoying."

"But she loved your content. She said you were so funny and always brought a smile to her face."

Bretman nodded.

"Yeah, but....she did it so much."

"But that didn't mean you had to tear her down!"

Ro felt herself on the verge of losing it, but she tried to remain as composed as possible. 

"Bretman....please," she begged quietly.  
"There has to be somewhere deep down in you that feels bad about what you did, even just a little bit. Can't you admit it? Please?"

He knew she was right. He _did_ feel a bit guilty about that. Looking back on it, Andrea Rose seemed pretty genuine and loving. But....he couldn't bring himself to admit that. And looking up into Ro's eyes-her soft, brown eyes-it only made him more conflicted and it hurt his heart in the worst way possible. He decided to be honest, though. At the very least, Ro would respect him for that.

"I.....I can't," he squeaked, shaking his head as he felt a tear roll down his face.  
"Honey, I'm sorry, but I can't. This bad bitch wants to stay a bad bitch."

Ro sighed and pursed her lips, her head dropping a little.

"Then....I'm sorry, but you can't go free."

"Honey--"

She shook her head.

"Bretman, it's part of the rules. I couldn't let you go unless you---"

All of a sudden, she heard someone snapping their fingers impatiently. Looking up she saw Andrea Rose with an impatient look.

"Uh, can we maybe keep this going please? Like I said, you only get so much time, so can you please kill him?"

Hearing this Ro looked over at Bretman. Her heart was aching for him. Yeah, he killed her and didn't want to apologize to Andrea Rose, but....she couldn't bring herself to kill him.

At least....not by making him suffer. She sighed resolutely.

"But.....I can do it painlessly," she nodded reaching out her hand for his shoulder.

This made Andrea Rose tense up and growl, making Ro whirl back around to face her

"Ro, what the hell are you---?"

"I'm not going to hurt him!" Ro exclaimed bravely as she wiped away the tears rolling down her face and stared Andrea Rose square into her eyes.  
"I can't.....I won't. None of these people deserve the pain you're putting them through."

"But _I_ deserved the pain they put _me_ through?" she snapped.

"Of course not. But that doesn't excuse what's going on. If I can't let him go free, then at least he shouldn't have to suffer. Because it's not his fault that I died."

She turned back to Bretman and held out her hand, stepping back a little. Bretman felt himself floating out of his body and he appeared out of the chair. His body slumped over and he looked down at himself.

"What?" he stammered as he turned back to Ro.  
"You....you forgive me?"

Ro smiled and nodded.

"It's gonna be okay, Bretman. I promise it will be okay."

At that moment, she enveloped him in a warm hug, having to stand on her tiptoes a bit to do so. Taken aback he picked her up a bit and hugged her back. Slowly the two began to fade away.....until they were gone completely.

* * *

Andrea Rose, meanwhile, was pissed that there'd been no blood or vengeance, but what did she expect? It was Ro. She wasn't one to take vengeance or be cruel to anyone, even as a mirrorling. 

_Well, what can you do?_

"I....don't have a pun for this," she admitted.  
"I'll just clean up the corpse."

With a single flash of her eyes, the Playboy's body was gone.

"Well, I know this one will have at least a little vengeance."

Turning around, she pointed at her next victim, who disappeared into the chair.

_"......After all, **he's** the reason that **she** died....."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please give kudos and comments. I stayed up until about 5 am to write this chapter. 
> 
> Up next: An on-and-off animosity comes to a head. Will they be allies or rivals this time?


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